Timing still not right for Rizzo, Hoyer says

This would seem like a perfect time to promote first baseman Anthony Rizzo from Triple-A Tucson.

With Will Venable optioned to Tucson this week, the Padres could move Brad Hawpe back to his former position of right field and insert Rizzo at first.

The move would put a true first baseman in the infield, keep Hawpe’s hot bat in the lineup and relieve Rizzo of carrying any added offensive burden.

The Padres have talked about moving Hawpe back to right field.

And with the Padres opening a six-game road trip in Washington on Friday night, the timing would allow Rizzo to get his feet on the ground away from the pressure of making his major league debut at Petco Park.

“Good logic, but not yet,” Padres General Manager Jed Hoyer said Wednesday.

For one, Rizzo has missed a little time over the past week while nursing a bruised left thumb and hand. And Hoyer believes Rizzo still has some developing to do at Triple-A.

“He is not going to go back down once he comes up,” Hoyer said. “And we’re not going to bring him up as the remedy for the offense. The timing and situation has to be right.”

Rizzo, 21, is hitting .366 with 14 homers and 56 RBI for Tucson. He leads the PCL in RBI, ranks second in homers and is eighth in average.

Denorfia’s role expanded

Although the left-handed Eric Patterson started in right Wednesday against the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter, the jobs of regular starting right fielder and leadoff hitter belong at least temporarily to Chris Denorfia — a consequence of the Padres’ demotion of Venable to Triple-A.

Therein, however, is another message that Denorfia isn’t missing.

“There hasn’t been any sort of announcement as far as I’m concerned,” Denorfia said. “I take baseball as an audition every single day. It’s a job that can be taken away from you just as quickly as it’s handed to you.”

Denorfia, 30, whose return from Tommy John surgery and baseball oblivion was one of the franchise’s more remarkable stories last year, earned the starting role as the only really steady hitter (.312) with the Padres this season.

Denorfia said he feels fully recovered from the 2007 elbow reconstruction surgery that threatened to derail his career.

“I am back and healthy,” he said. “It’s just a feeling I have when I play, a feeling I have in the box. I feel I can do damage just about every at-bat. It’s a good feeling that I didn’t have for a couple years.”

Worth noting: Kyle Blanks had the same surgery just last July.

Notes

•Blake Tekotte got an ovation from the offense-starved fans at Petco Park when he lined out to right in his major league debut as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning Wednesday.

•The Padres were booed in the sixth after failing to score after a leadoff triple by Jason Bartlett. Chase Headley grounded out to third for the first out. Then running on contact, Bartlett was caught in a rundown and tagged out on a Ryan Ludwick grounder to Carpenter. Ludwick then was thrown out trying to advance to second on the play.